Mahmadullah has Windies in a spin on debut Test

Mahmudullah completed a memorable debut Test, when he cruelly exposed WI' frailty to spin, and bowled B'desh to a 95-run victory in the first Test.

Written by Agence-France Presse

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Kingstown:

Mahmudullah completed a memorable debut Test, when he cruelly exposed West Indies' frailty to spin, and bowled Bangladesh to a historic 95-run victory in the opening Test here on Monday.

The 23-year-old off-spinner captured five wickets for 51 runs from 15 overs, as West Indies, chasing 277 for victory, were dismissed for 181 in their second innings about 20 minutes before the scheduled close on the fifth and final day at the Arnos Vale Sports Complex.

Shakib Al Hasan formalised Bangladesh's second Test victory ever, when he trapped Tino Best lbw plumb in front for nine with a dipping full toss, and ended with three wickets for 39 runs from 28.1 overs.

The result means that Bangladesh lead the two-Test series 1-0 with the final match set to start on Friday at Grenada's Queen's Park Stadium Complex.

Bangladesh's victory which came about 4-1/2 years after their solitary Test win against Zimbabwe on home soil in Chittagong was made more remarkable because their new captain and primary fast bowler Mashrafe Mortaza spent the entire West Indies innings off the field nursing a knee injury he aggravated earlier in the match.

"I feel much better now following this victory," said Mortaza. "Special thanks to Shakib for deputising for me, and the way he handled the side."

"It was probably a blessing in disguise when we got bowled out (on Monday morning) which gave us more time. We were looking to bat until lunch and get a lead of about 300 or more, but we lost our last five wickets quickly.

"But we have good spinners like Shakib and Mahmudullah and they bowled really well, so special thanks to them and the rest of the bowlers because we were operating one bowler short because of my injury - and we still won," Mortaza said.

Bangladesh had pressed their claims almost from the start of the West Indies innings, and had restricted the hosts to 66 for two at lunch.

They got the breakthrough quite fortuitously, when Raqibul Hasan ran Dale Richards out for 14 with a direct hit from gully, after umpire Asoka de Silva turned down an lbw appeal from Shahadat Hossain, and the batsman absentmindedly sauntered out of his crease.

There was further success for Bangladesh, when Shakib had left-hander Omar Phillips lbw for 14 to leave West Indies 33 for two, but the Tigers could make no further headway, as West Indies captain Floyd Reifer joined Travis Dowlin, and they batted out the remainder of the session.By tea, Bangladesh had a strong scent of victory, after Mahmudullah and Shakib shared four wickets in the afternoon session to leave West Indies wobbling on 128 for six.

"We are obviously disappointed that we lost this Test," said Reifer. "I thought we let ourselves down in the first innings, when the batsmen did not capitalise on the starts that they got.

"Many of us got a start, but never really carried on.

Young Omar Phillips scored 94, but I thought that a lot of other guys, including myself, got starts, and we never carried on to a big score."

He continued: "That would have meant we would have scored a bigger total in the first innings, and would have been in a position to put them under a little more pressure.

"But I thought all of the guys played well for a team that was assembled a night before the Test match. I thought we fought really well, and we are looking forward to the Test in Grenada."

Mahmudullah made the breakthrough in the fifth over after lunch, and triggered a collapse which saw West Indies lose three wickets for 13 runs in the space of 37 balls.

The off-spinner tightened Bangladesh's grip, when he trapped Reifer lbw for 19, had Dowlin caught at forward short leg for the same score, and also had Chadwick Walton lbw for 10 to leave the home team on 82 for five.

But Bangladesh were put on their heels, when Darren Sammy joined Dave Bernard Jr and added 37 for the sixth wicket before he was caught at point for 19 off Shakib in the last half-hour before the break.

After tea, there was token resistance only from the West Indies batting, although Bernard batted almost 3-1/2 hours to complete his second half-century of the match, and top- scored with an undefeated 52 from 134 balls.

Mahmudullah suffered the most, when Bernard drove him through cover off the back- foot for the last of his five fours to reach his 50 from 112 balls, but no other batsman could get on top of the Bangladesh bowling.

Earlier, Bangladesh's lower order had been undermined by Darren Sammy - in particular - who finished with five wickets for 70 runs from 30.1 overs, and Kemar Roach, who ended with three for 67 from 26 overs.

After they continued from their overnight total of 321 for five, only Mushfiqur Rahim with 37 and Shakib with 30 showed any prolonged resistance.

Bangladesh also play three One-day Internationals and a Twenty20 International on their five-week tour of the Caribbean.